The People’s Pandemic

This weekend I returned to my roots as a congressional correspondent and C-SPAN junkie to document a piece of pandemic history that captured my fascination. I created this collage by grabbing screen shots of Thursday’s debate over legislation to provide more coronavirus aid and create a new oversight panel for keeping tabs on such aid.

Some observations I made while watching:

• Most of the lawmakers in this image are Democrats because they were far more likely than Republicans to wear face masks while speaking.

• Several more members of the House not pictured here pulled their masks down or to the side, or held them in their hands while speaking.

• My favorite was Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia, who kept his mask on but pulled it up from his chin and mouth. He is second from the right in the first row of the collage.

• At least two lawmakers wore two layers of covering.

• A handful of them wore gloves of different varieties — disposable, industrial and even driving gloves.

• Some lawmakers were diligent about using the provided disinfectant wipes to thoroughly clean the podium and microphone before speaking.

• I have a separate screen shot of Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, working the hand sanitizer pretty good as she started to speak. She lowered both her mask and a second layer of scarf before speaking.

• The center of the fourth row of the collage includes shots of the House clerk and chaplain in full masks. Most, if not all, of the House staff appeared to be wearing masks.